Wider shot of the Casting Couch. It's hard to read, but I believe the stars in the foreground are for Elvis Presley and the Beatles. The location is Hollywood and La Brea, maybe 4 blocks from the Oscar(tm) venue.

Credit unknown on this one.

_________________"Our democratic institutions... seem to have been upended by frat-boy billionaires from California," remarked Canadian politician Charlie Angus. (BBC, 11/27/18)

A man has been arrested on suspicion of stealing Frances McDormand's Oscar after the awards ceremony on Sunday. Los Angeles Police have confirmed Terry Bryant was arrested for grand theft, after the statuette went missing from the Governor's Ball.

The 47-year old was booked and has had bail set at $20,000 (£14,400). He will attend court at a future date. The statue has since been returned to the best actress winner.

LAPD said Bryant was a ticket holder for the Governor's Ball, which is the official formal dinner after the ceremony.

James Ivory was a partner in the famous Merchant Ivory Productions, which made some of the absolute classic movies. Merchant Ivory was known for the highest quality product, much of which is timeless. It gets better. Merchant and Ivory were an LGBT couple (Merchant died in 2005).

Openly gay writing award winners are rare, believe it or not. He might be the first. He's also way, way the oldest at 89. In a completely ageist business where 45 year old writers have to hire film students to front for them in pitch meetings, this is remarkable and I congratulate the Academy voters for showing some class and recognizing one of the greats.

Best Director Guillermo del Toro, Shape of Water

First Latino to win this award. Good choice. As an aside, he's also a teeeeeeeeny bit on the old side for This Town, but then anyone over 30 is a bit on the old side. Nice to see ageism overcome again. We hear about racism and sexism, which indeed are big problems, but ageism is perhaps the most ingrained.

Pretend you're above the line for a second. For whatever reason, you become involved with the Shape of Water project. How long before you wake up sweating, when it finally hits you that you just signed on to direct a movie in which the lead is mute, and the romantic interest is a captured amphibious humanoid in a Cold War secret lab?

You left out cinematography. I didn't see Blade Runner 2049, which apparently was a bad mistake. I hope I can stream it or..... (we don't talk about the alternatives).

Roger Deakins is also a bit long in the tooth for this biz, especially in a job where it's considered macho to stay on your feet 16-20 hours a day. He's a great cinematographer but never won the Oscar. This was his 15th nomination. Another good recognition by the Academy.

It seems that this kind of career recognition was as big a theme as the race/ gender/ age/ immigration inclusion thing. Dumb Oscar show, but one of the better outcomes.

_________________"Our democratic institutions... seem to have been upended by frat-boy billionaires from California," remarked Canadian politician Charlie Angus. (BBC, 11/27/18)

Last edited by ZoWie on Mon Mar 05, 2018 3:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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